Dusty May, champion for Michigan, is the new coach of the Dallas Mavericks in a bet on the college scene
The Dallas Mavericks are in the final stages of negotiations to hire Dusty May, current Michigan coach, as their new head coach. This transition promises to profoundly impact the landscape of college basketball and the future of the NBA.
At age 49, May led the University of Michigan basketball team to the 2026 national title. He will now take the helm of an organization that projects Cooper Flagg as a core athlete. Jason Kidd’s firing came after the Mavericks posted a 26-56 record the previous year.
In two seasons leading the team in Ann Arbor, May put together an impressive 64-13 record with Michigan. Prior to that, his work at Florida Atlantic was notable, securing two consecutive NCAA Tournament seedings, including an appearance in the 2023 Final Four. Despite turning down other college basketball offers this offseason, the challenge of the NBA has always piqued his interest.
May’s hiring represents the first time a college coach has taken on an NBA role since John Beilein, who also joined the Cleveland Cavaliers from Michigan in 2019. To find an example of someone who left college basketball immediately after a national title, you have to go back to Larry Brown, who left Kansas in 1988. The last NCAA champion coach to transition to the NBA was Florida’s Billy Donovan in 2015.
The impact of May’s arrival on the Mavericks and Michigan’s situation
This transition positions May at the head of the next generation of Mavericks, a team that is being shaped around Cooper Flagg, the previous season’s NBA Rookie of the Year, who led Dallas with an average of 21 points per game. On the other hand, the coach’s departure creates a scenario of sudden instability in Michigan, which had had a successful campaign in the NCAA. The expectation was that the university would repeat its success, as ESPN’s Jeff Borzello had placed Michigan in third place in his preliminary ranking of the top 25 teams.
May’s departure opens up the possibility for Michigan athletes to explore new opportunities. Per NCAA rules, a 15-day transfer window is activated five days after the hiring or public announcement of a new head coach is made.
This period will give Michigan officials a chance to seek an internal solution, considering the experience of assistant coach Mike Boynton, who was previously the head coach at Oklahoma State. Alternatively, they could opt to hire a new commander and at the same time strive to retain the talented squad.
The Michigan team features important names such as Elliot Cadeau, who was named Most Valuable Player of the Final Four, the promising second-year Trey McKenney, as well as a recent wave of transfer athletes with great potential, such as JP Estrella, Moustapha Thiam and Jalen Reed.
The Mavericks’ decision to release Kidd came shortly after the hiring of Masai Ujiri, the new president and alternate governor charged with managing the franchise’s basketball operations. This happened even though the club owed Kidd more than $40 million for the remaining four years of his contract.
During the five seasons under Kidd’s leadership, the Mavs posted a 205-205 record. High points included reaching the Western Conference finals in 2022 and the NBA finals in 2024. However, the team missed out on the playoffs in the last two seasons, following the controversial and unexpected trade of star Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in February 2025, a move that culminated in the firing of general manager Nico Harrison in November of the same year.
Dallas’ search for a new coach and Dusty May’s profile
During the search for a replacement for Kidd, league information, as reported by ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, indicates that Dallas also investigated interest from Duke’s Jon Scheyer, a coach who worked with Flagg in his only college season. The process also included interviews with several NBA assistant coaches, but the Mavericks prioritized hiring May.
May’s career climb has similarities with the trajectory of Brad Stevens, now an executive at the Boston Celtics. Stevens, meanwhile, parlayed two national finals appearances at Butler University into the Celtics’ head coaching position in July 2013.
May emerged as one of the most promising coaches of the new generation of basketball after guiding FAU, then ninth in Conference USA, to the 2023 Final Four. The Owls were eliminated by just one point by San Diego State in the semifinals. During his time at FAU, May accumulated remarkable seasons, with records of 35 wins and 4 losses and 25 wins and 9 losses.
In his final four seasons as a head coach in college basketball, he achieved an impressive record of 124 wins and 26 losses. In 2025, Michigan had lost to Auburn, the No. 1-ranked team, in the round of 16 of the NCAA tournament.
Along this path, May’s reputation grew, being recognized both for his tactical competence during games and for his ability to assemble squads and optimize the players’ functioning on the court. His style often included the use of tall formations, with Michigan establishing itself as an efficient response to the “small ball” trend in college basketball, employing several centers successfully.
The unsigned contract and Dusty May’s trajectory
During the University of Michigan’s title celebrations in April, athletic director Warde Manuel had publicly announced that May had accepted a new contract that would keep him at the institution long-term. However, this agreement was not formally signed at the time of Manuel’s statement, and no official statement about a new link was made in the subsequent months.
May began his career as a basketball manager at Indiana University and from there progressed through all stages of coaching. His career includes stints as a video coordinator at USC and roles as an assistant coach at several universities, such as Eastern Michigan, Murray State, UAB, Louisiana Tech and Florida.
This journey through different regions of the country culminated in his arrival as head coach at FAU in 2018.
